Your tour group is happily traveling westward toward its next adventure when all heads swivel in a double take. Was that a two-headed fiberglass dinosaur standing on a cliff? A giant ball of twine? A row of rusty cars hoods-down in the ground? Yes. No one is dreaming. The freeways and backroads of the United States are a goldmine of quirky, strange, nutty roadside novelties—with the West a hands-down winner of the truly weird and wonderful.
In Niland, California, near the Salton Sea, a small cement monument has grown into a massive, rainbow-colored hill called Salvation Mountain. For three decades, artist Leonard Knight worked on his masterpiece, using adobe, straw, and painted biblical quotes and flower patterns to create a monument to love. Nearby, other artists have taken up the cause, creating an equally whimsical project known as East Jesus, a 30-acre community art installation.
Along the Redwood Highway in Leggett, California, is the Chandelier Tree, a nearly 300-foot-tall redwood with a 6-foot-wide tunnel at its base for cars to go through. The tree’s branches, high up on the trunk, resemble a chandelier—hence the name. The tree is now part of a park with picnic areas and trails operated by the descendants of the first owners, the appropriately named Underwood family.
Cars are a popular theme for roadside attractions. The International Car Forest of the Last Church outside Goldfield, Nevada, is an assemblage of 40 vintage cars, trucks, and buses buried face-down or stacked in creative formations—and splashed with colorful graffiti. Cadillac Ranch outside Amarillo, Texas, a project of the art collective Ant Farm, features 10 Caddies half-buried in the desert nose down at a 60-degree angle—allegedly the same angle as the Great Pyramid of Giza’s sloping sides, according to RoadsideAmerica.com. Carhenge, near Alliance, Nebraska, consists of 38 American-made automobiles retrieved from nearby farms and dumps, painted blue-gray to replicate England’s iconic Stonehenge.
Credit: North Dakota Tourism
Near the mining town of Victor, Colorado, lives Rita the Rock Planter, one of more than 100 sculptures—many of them trolls composed of scrap wood and branches—created by Danish artist Thomas Danbo. The 21-foot-tall sculpture bears a conservation message, and she “works” to repair holes in the earth left by miners. Rita and Salvation Mountain are not the only roadside novelties with messages. The Garden of One Thousand Buddhas, located in the Jocko Valley of Arlee, Montana, includes 1,000 identical hand-cast statues of Siddhartha Gautama centered on a 10-acre wheel-like design. Based on Buddhist teachings, the wheel symbolizes the “interconnectedness of all beings.”
Hungry? Then head to the New Mexico desert. Just outside of White Sands National Park is a 30-foot-tall pistachio nut. Welcome to PistachioLand, where your group can tour the nut farm, learn about the harvesting process, and taste flavored nuts—and even wine made from pistachios. If traveling along Interstate 40, keep your eyes peeled for wacky dinosaur statues and long-dilapidated and vacant tourist traps—the signage alone is worth a look. Near Moab, Utah, Hole N” The Rock is another marvel. A 5,000-square-foot home carved directly into the sandstone, the 14-room residence still has its original furnishings and artwork. There are guided tours, a gift shop, and even a petting zoo.
Perhaps America’s longest roadside attraction is the Enchanted Highway, which begins at Exit 72 on Interstate 94 near Gladstone, North Dakota, and concludes 32 miles down the road in the small town of Regent. Large metal sculptures, designed and crafted by local artist Gary Greff, of geese in flight, giant grasshoppers, pheasants, and deer gliding over a fence animate the Great Plains landscape. Near each sculpture are pull-off areas for admiring Greff’s work up close. Miniatures of each sculpture are available at the Enchanted Castle motel and restaurant. And that enormous ball of twine? It’s outside Cawker City, Kansas. There’s no denying these roadside novelties are a uniquely American idiosyncrasy to be sought out and enjoyed.
By C.L. Lefevre
Main Image: Chandelier Tree, Redwood Highway, Leggett, California; Credit: Adobe/NORADORA
